Report on one of my favorite shows, hidden cleverly within a small town festival.
The Daffodil festival is pure small town Americana located in the small colonial town of Gloucester, VA. The festival itself encompasses about 4-5 blocks of main street and has everything that one would expect for a small town festival. There is a large parade, a food court, games for the children, booths representing civic groups, and yes, even some buy-sell. (the buy sell is separated from everyone else)
Which begs the question, Why am I reporting about DF on Art Fair Insider? That is the cleverly hidden part I mentioned earlier. You see the colonial courthouse and several other old building are located in what would be part of main street, except the town built a traffic circle around those building. Check it out on a mapping program and you will see what I mean. The key is that if you are an artist, you are invited to set up within the circle. Results, you literally end up with an art show within the festival. Ok, now the details.
The DF is held each spring either on the last weekend in March or the first weekend in April. This year the attendance was approximately 20,000 and there were about 200 vendors and artist. It is run by a dedicated group of volunteers and there are always committee volunteers walking around the show ready and willing to help with whatever you need.
Load in and Load out are the best that i have seen in my 4 years of doing shows. You check in, they send you to the closest spot to unload, a troop of boy scouts and their leaders will descend upon your trailer, van, or car and haul all your stuff to your site. Once there, if the traffic isn't too heavy, they will even help you set up your tent. Load out, is almost as easy. You get your vehicle as close as you can and that same group of scouts will haul all your stuff to your vehicle.
Gloucester has always been a good show for me. Not a huge show in sales, but as Nels, would say, a paycheck. The booth fee is relatively low at $150, so you don't have a huge expense to overcome. I have found the crowds to be interested and willing to buy items that they like. However, that being said, the crowd is always friendly, the staff couldn't be any more supportive of artists, and it is just one of shows that is fun to do.
So, for those folks within reasonable driving distance of Gloucester, or if you are attending another show in this part of the world and need another relaxing show to fill in, take a look at the Daffodil Festival.
Disclaimer: Yes, I am biased. I always enjoy doing this show, and oh yeah, I won Best in Show this year.
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